NHS 3% pay rise in England: For all the unions' protests, the award could have been worse - Sky News

The normally moderate Royal College of Nursing described the 3% pay rise for NHS staff in England as a "shambolic announcement" after a "shambolic day".

And it's difficult to disagree.

The announcement - just before 6pm - came four hours after health minister Helen Whateley told MPs the government was "still considering" the recommendations of the pay review body.

Really? So what happened in those four hours?

Was there an almighty battle behind the scenes in Whitehall over whether to accept the review body's recommendation in full? Perhaps.

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Or, more likely, did the government want to avoid questions from MPs as the clock ticks towards parliament's summer recess?

If that was the reason, it will almost certainly backfire.

More on Nhs

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will either grant an urgent question or allow questions on pay during the COVID-19 update statement on the day the House of Commons rises.

Image: The new rise is still less than NHS workers in Scotland are getting

The government will be relieved that the review body didn't recommend any more than 3%. But is it a fair settlement?

The RCN makes the point that the Treasury expects inflation to be 3.7%. And the Scottish government has awarded NHS staff 4%, backdated to December. England's 3% is only backdated to April.

The health workers' union Unison conceded that the 3% is an improvement on the government's earlier "miserly 1% proposal". But it falls short of what NHS staff deserve after the pandemic, the union claims.

And that's the point.

Many NHS staff will feel that all that Thursday night clapping by Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak was worthless and a proper reward would have been an inflation-plus pay rise.

As for other public sector workers, Labour has attacked the proposal for "an insulting real terms pay cut" for police officers, who are to receive 2%.

And the TUC's Frances O'Grady says the NHS announcement should be followed by pay rises for all key workers. Good luck with that, Frances.

A 3% pay rise may not satisfy the unions - but at least the government has moved on from its claim that 1% was all it could afford.

It's a compromise, therefore, between the double-figure percentage claims of some unions and the chancellor's entirely predictable determination not to let public sector pay rip.

So, for all the unions' protests, the award could have been worse.

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2021-07-21 19:28:08Z
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NHS workers in England offered 3% pay rise - BBC News

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Nurses and other NHS workers in England have been offered a 3% pay rise by government "in recognition of unique impact of the pandemic" on staff.

It comes after heavily criticised proposals made by the Department for Health and Social Care in March said only a rise of 1% was affordable.

All NHS staff in Wales will be offered a 3% rise by the Welsh government.

But some health unions opposed the new figure saying it does not reflect the sacrifices made by staff.

They point out the NHS workforce has been under unprecedented pressure.

The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents doctors, said the pay rise was disappointing and that junior doctors and some GPs could miss out on it altogether.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, of the BMA, said many doctors had not taken annual leave in the past year and now "face a gruelling year ahead with millions of patients on waiting lists, and the country in the midst of another Covid-19 wave".

Labour's shadow health minister Justin Madders described the new pay rise as a "U-turn" and called on the government to "make our NHS and key workers feel supported and valued after all they have done for us".

• What is the state of NHS pay?
• What are key workers paid?

The rise in pay for healthcare workers follows a public sector pay freeze for 2021-22, announced by the government in November, with exceptions made for those on salaries under £24,000 and NHS staff.

The 3% pay rise is for most NHS staff including nurses, paramedics, consultants, dentists and salaried GPs and is backdated to April 2021.

According to government calculations for the average nurse, this will mean an additional £1,000 a year, while many porters and cleaners will receive around £540.

'Extraordinary efforts'

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: "NHS staff are rightly receiving a pay rise this year despite the wider public sector pay pause, in recognition of their extraordinary efforts.

"We will back the NHS as we focus our efforts on getting through this pandemic and tackling the backlog of other health problems that has built up."

NHS pay rises are negotiated by independent pay-review bodies that look at evidence from a range of groups before making recommendations to the government.

The pay rise does not include doctors and dentists in training who have their own separate, multi-year contracts.

Frantic end to day of frustration

It was a day of frustration for health unions and their members.

There was a widespread expectation that the details would be revealed in a health minister's statement to the Commons at lunchtime.

But MPs were told the government was still considering pay review body recommendations.

Then the announcement came at 18:00 BST, suggesting a frantic afternoon finalising the deal with the prime minister, chancellor, and health secretary all self-isolating.

Union reaction has been varied with one group acknowledging ministers had made a significant step up from the original 1% offer.

Others though said the 3% on the table was insufficient recognition of the huge effort of NHS staff during the pandemic.

The details will be put to union members in the next few weeks and it will be hard to predict the response at a time when pressure on the health service is intensifying because of another Covid surge.

Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) gathered in Westminster ahead of the announcement with placards and banners demanding a 12.5% pay increase.

One of those demonstrating, Kafeelat Adekunle, 55, a community matron with Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London, described the pay rise as "mad".

"I'm not happy," she told the PA news agency. "They're not listening, that's the whole problem. This is just to try and stop us from doing industrial action, just to keep us quiet, keep us shushed."

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said the increase, though an improvement on the initial offer, fell short of what NHS staff deserved.

"The government has failed to show staff just how valued they are to us all," she said, warning some staff may now leave the health service.

Unite national officer for health, Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe, described the 3% offer as "small step forward on the insulting 1% the government offered in March".

"However, this recommendation in no way recognises the 19% drop in real earnings that many NHS workers have endured in the last decade, nor the immense sacrifices that health staff have and are continuing to make as Covid infection rates rapidly rise again."

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Chief executive of the RCN, Pat Cullen, said the announcement was "light on detail" and that nursing staff would "remain dignified in responding to what will be a bitter blow to many".

"But the profession will not take this lying down," she warned.

In making the final decisions on pay the government will have factored in the impact of the pandemic on both the economy and the NHS.

Currently almost half the NHS's budget goes on staffing costs - a total of £56.1bn.

In theory, the pay-review bodies make recommendations for NHS staff across the UK - but it is up to the individual UK nations to decide whether to accept them.

In Wales, Health Minister Eluned Morgan said the 3% rise "recognises the dedication and commitment of hardworking NHS staff".

In Scotland, most NHS staff have already been offered a 4% pay rise (backdated to December 2020). This follows a one-off Covid payment for health and social care staff of £500.

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2021-07-21 19:13:47Z
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Liverpool stripped of Unesco World Heritage status - BBC News

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Liverpool has been stripped of its World Heritage status after a UN committee found developments threatened the value of the city's waterfront.

The decision was made following a secret ballot by the Unesco committee at a meeting in China.

Unesco had said that the developments, including the planned new Everton FC stadium, had resulted in a "serious deterioration" of the historic site.

The decision was described as "incomprehensible" by the city's mayor.

"Our World Heritage site has never been in better condition having benefitted from hundreds of millions of pounds of investment across dozens of listed buildings and the public realm," Joanne Anderson said.

She said she would work with the government to examine whether the city could appeal against the decision, which comes "a decade after Unesco last visited the city to see it with their own eyes".

Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said the decision was "a retrograde step that does not reflect the reality of what is happening on the ground".

"Places like Liverpool should not be faced with the binary choice between maintaining heritage status or regenerating left-behind communities and the wealth of jobs and opportunities that come with it," he said.

The government said it was "extremely disappointed" with the decision and believes Liverpool still deserves its heritage status "given the significant role the historic docks and the wider city have played throughout history".

Everton FC

Liverpool becomes only the third site to lose its World Heritage status since the list began in 1978, the other two being Oman's Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in 2007 and the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany in 2009.

Announcing the decision, committee chairman Tian Xuejun said 20 votes had been cast - with 13 in favour of deleting the city, five against the proposal and two ballot papers being invalid.

Liverpool's Liberal Democrat leader Richard Kemp said it was a "day of shame" for the city, adding that it would "without a doubt, affect our tourism and inward investment".

The city was awarded the much-coveted title in 2004 in recognition of its historical and architectural impact, joining places including the Taj Mahal, Egypt's Pyramids and Canterbury Cathedral.

It recognised its history as a major trading centre during the British Empire and its architectural landmarks.

• Proposal to remove World Heritage status 'painful'
• Australia angered by Great Barrier Reef report
• Everton cleared to build new £500m stadium

However, a report in June by the World Heritage Committee said developments on the city's waterfront had resulted in "irreversible loss of attributes".

It cited the Liverpool Waters project and Everton's new stadium, which is being built at Bramley Moore Dock.

Unesco director Dr Mechtild Rossler said the city had been warned of its potential deletion from the list for many years.

Nearly 30 figures from politics, football and academia signed a letter to The Times in June urging Unesco not to strip the city of its status.

Analysis

By Claire Hamilton, BBC Radio Merseyside political reporter

Getty Images

Liverpool has seen more peaks and troughs than most, and it's a city which has changed immeasurably since 2004 when the World Heritage Status was conferred.

Back then, there was no Liverpool One shopping centre, no hint that Everton would consider building a multi-million pound waterfront stadium and its year as European Capital of Culture hadn't happened. The city has changed.

Today, there's a sense of defiance in some quarters about Unesco's decision that the city doesn't need the title, especially if sits in the way of progress for an area which has lain neglected and semi derelict for decades.

Critics argue the benefits of being a World Heritage status were never properly spelled out and there wasn't the political will in the city to address Unesco's concerns until recently, when it was too late.

Many people argue that tourists visiting the Pier Head, St George's Plateau or Penny Lane are not coming because Liverpool is a designated World Heritage site - they probably don't even realise it is.

They're coming for the Beatles, the football, food and the history but that history will remain.

Yet today's announcement worries those who fear that the ability to protect heritage, architecture and history is now diminished, that there will be a free-for-all of unsuitable, careless development.

The argument for the last has been presented as a binary choice: heritage or progress? The feeling in Liverpool is, couldn't we have had both?

Dr David Jeffery

Dr David Jeffery, who is a lecturer of British politics at the University of Liverpool, said he believed the decision would not have a "serious impact" on the city's tourism industry.

"Everything we offered yesterday we can still offer today," he said.

"I do hope this serves as a warning to the council to stop approving ugly buildings though."

Richie Wright, 40, who has lived in Liverpool all his life, said the status had "on many occasions, hampered and restricted development in a city that is ripe for development".

"I hope that Liverpool and its wider city region now seizes this opportunity to make common sense decisions that make our city and the world proud," he said.

Richie Wright

Liverpool's heritage

Getty Images

• The World Heritage Site stretches from the city's famous waterfront, through the historic commercial districts, to St George's Hall
• The city's bid for the status was centred on its history as a major global port in the 18th and 19th Centuries, when it played a significant role in the growth of the British Empire
• It was a hub for the mass movement of people, including migrants from Europe to America, and had a key role in the transatlantic slave trade
• Liverpool was one of about 30 World Heritage Sites in the UK, along with Stonehenge and the Giant's Causeway

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk

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• Unesco

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2021-07-20 21:29:19Z
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M&S to cut Christmas products in Northern Ireland - BBC News

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Marks & Spencer has warned it is already cutting Christmas products in Northern Ireland due to concerns over forthcoming post-Brexit customs checks.

Chairman Archie Norman told Radio Four's Today Programme the changes could mean higher prices and less choice for Northern Ireland customers.

Mr Norman said current "pointless" checks with the Republic of Ireland were "threatening" to its business.

He called for a "common sense approach to enforcement."

The UK is expected later to warn the EU it is prepared to unilaterally override the Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland if a simplified agreement cannot be reached.

Right now, supermarkets who send products there from Great Britain face only light-touch checks, under a so-called "grace period" which delayed some of the new processes. That runs out at the end of September.

The Northern Ireland Protocol helps prevent the need for checks on the island of Ireland's internal border.

But in the first warning from a major retailer on the scale of the potential problems, former Conservative party MP Mr Norman said once light-touch export checks end, there will be "gaps on the shelves".

"This Christmas, I can tell you already, we're having to make decisions to delist product for Northern Ireland because it's simply not worth the risk of trying to get it through," he said.

"We've already made that decision. We're waiting to see how serious it's going to be but if it's anything like southern Ireland (the Republic of Ireland), and at the moment it's set to be, then it's going to be very, very serious for customers."

Marks and Spencer is a major employer in Ireland, with more than 4,000 staff.

In a letter to Brexit minister Lord Frost, Mr Norman said the current EU customs arrangements were "totally unsuited and were never designed for a modern fresh food supply chain between closely intertwined trading partners".

'Box-ticking'

"There is no other outcome for consumers in Northern Ireland in the end other than higher prices, given the inflationary pressures being put on to retailers by the regulatory regime," Mr Norman wrote.

"Being able to keep the show on the road, let alone growing, is going to be very challenging," he added.

Mr Norman told the BBC that "pettifogging enforcement" of the rules required M&S to employ 14 full-time vets, "simply ticking boxes and filling out forms", in order to certify its products.

"Sandwiches typically require three veterinary certificates to get through," he said.

Because of the way the system worked, M&S had had to give up exporting half its sandwich range to Ireland, he said.

If forms were filled in incorrectly, that meant delays, with everything on paper and nothing digital, Mr Norman said.

"If one page is blue instead of black typeface, the entire wagon is turned away," he added.

Mr Norman said that if the same regime was replicated in Northern Ireland at the end of September, it would be "incendiary" for the public there.

• What's the Northern Ireland Protocol?
• DUP sets out seven tests for NI Brexit deal
• M&S marks 50 years of trading in Belfast

Mr Norman said M&S was one of the largest UK-based retailers operating in Ireland as a whole and played "a disproportionate role" in Northern Ireland.

"Our market share in Northern Ireland is almost double our share on the UK mainland. In part, this reflects our history as the only major UK retailer that committed to trade and invest continuously through the Troubles," he said.

"Our commitment and involvement with the people and communities of Northern Ireland remains strong. We are also a major employer and investor with over 4,000 people employed directly by M&S and many more in our supply chain."

He added that last year, M&S invested more than £10m in the business in Northern Ireland.

However, the issues raised by the current customs arrangements, in which Northern Ireland remains part of the EU Single Market while the rest of the UK has left, were "very threatening to our business", he said.

Paperwork errors

The EU has said a temporary Swiss-style veterinary agreement for Northern Ireland, in which the UK continues to follow EU agri-food rules, could be a solution, but it has been rejected by the UK.

In his letter, Mr Norman said he understood why the UK government was "not favourably disposed" to this solution, although he added that it was "by far the best way of delivering a smooth trade flow".

Regardless of this, he added, many problems could be solved by a willingness to overlook "trivial" errors in paperwork and efforts to set up a "trusted trader" scheme.

"Any scheme should start on the basis that we are prepared to follow EU standards for products going to Northern Ireland," he said.

"The debate is not about meeting standards, this is about what we are required to do to show we are compliant."

Number 10 said Mr Norman's letter was a "stark warning" of "the fundamental problems with the Protocol".

"That is why we need to urgently tackle these issues, to ensure there is minimal disruption to people's lives in Northern Ireland, as the Protocol itself intended," it added.

It plans to set out details later on its approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

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2021-07-20 19:28:30Z
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Minister says people can IGNORE being 'pinged' by NHS app if they think that is the 'right thing' - Daily Mail

Self-isolation shambles as No10 slaps down business minister for saying people can IGNORE being 'pinged' by NHS app if they think that is the 'right thing' to do

• Mounting fears about the impact of huge number of self-isolation instructions as infections spike in the UK
• Minister suggested people could ignore being 'pinged' by the NHS app before being slapped down by No10
• Almost all legal restrictions were lifted in England yesterday as 'Freedom Day' went ahead despite concerns  

By James Tapsfield, Political Editor For Mailonline and Rory Tingle For Mailonline

Published: 10:57 BST, 20 July 2021 | Updated: 16:58 BST, 20 July 2021

The government's self-isolation rules descended further into shambles today as No10 slapped down a minister for saying people can ignore being 'pinged' by the NHS app if they think it is the 'right thing' to do.

Paul Scully struck a starkly different tone from Boris Johnson's press briefing last night, when the PM insisted that self-isolation rules must stay in place to control soaring infections. 

The business minister stressed that obeying the app was not a legal requirement, and people were being encouraged to 'make decisions on what's best for them'.

His departmental colleague Lord Grimstone reportedly voiced the same sentiments to a large employer, saying the software is only an 'advisory tool'. 

No10 quickly tried to correct Mr Scully, insisting it is 'crucial' people isolate when told to do so by the app or by contact tracers. 

But the intervention fuelled mounting confusion about how the public should behave as rising cases spark a wave of quarantine instructions. Businesses have warned they are being forced to limit hours or shut down as so many staff are absent, while there have been reports of empty supermarket shelves, overflowing bins and trains being delayed or cancelled.

BP today highlighted 'fuel supply issues' at some garages, blaming 'industry-wide driver shortages' together with the closure of a distribution due to staff isolating. 

Around 1.7million are thought to be isolating currently, with the problem set to get much worse as cases keep rising.

However, the PM dismissed calls to make the app less sensitive or bring forward a daily testing scheme for the fully vaccinated, due to come into force from August 16.

Instead there are only exemptions for very limited groups of key workers, including some frontline NHS staff and parts of the food chain. 

On another tumultuous day in the coronavirus crisis:

• The Pound hit a five-month low against the US dollar amid fears that 'Freedom Day' is turning sour and the government will need to reimpose restrictions to control surging cases;
• Mr Johnson has been accused of imposing 'compulsory vaccination' after he threatened to make anyone going to a nightclub prove they are double-jabbed;
• Dominic Cummings has claimed the PM resisted pleas for a second lockdown last autumn, joking that the Covid pandemic was only killing pensioners;
• A total of 183 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending July 9 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – up 68 per cent on the previous week. 

Paul Scully (left) struck a starkly different tone from Boris Johnson's press briefing last night, when the PM (right) insisted that self-isolation rules must stay in place to control soaring infections

Infections are currently running at about 45,000 a day (yellow line shows cases increasing since May) but deaths are still flat at about 40 a day (pink line shows fatalities in the third wave). For comparison, the last time cases hit this level when the second wave began to spiral out of control (orange line) there were more than 600 daily deaths

BP today highlighted 'fuel supply issues' at some garages, blaming 'industry-wide driver shortages' together with the closure of a distribution due to staff isolating

Stricken businesses face disaster amid wave of self-isolation 

The Factory Tap, a real ale bar in Kendal, is having to close early at 10pm on Friday and 9pm on Saturday because of a shortage of staff having to self-isolate.

The venue wrote on Facebook: 'We need 30% more staff to serve 75 per cent of our normal custom. Having staff isolate means we cannot operate and would have to close.

'We have been closing earlier than normal 10pm Friday and Saturday 9pm for the rest of the week, we intend to continue this.

'We close at these times for a very good reason, we are either understaffed and unable to provide the service required or are knackered and have just had enough!'

The Long Eaton Art Room, a community art centre in Nottingham, has had to abandon drop-in sessions and only run pre-arranged workshops after being forced to close several times due to staff being pinged.

Explaining the decision, they wrote on Facebook: 'Every time we get pinged by the app we need to close, we are aiming to avoid that as much as possible and feel that set workshops will help us.'

Shakespeare's Coffee Shop in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, is closing for the week.

The management wrote on Facebook: 'It is with great regret that we have had to close the coffee shop and library this week due to lots of staff isolating, after being informed by the COVID app. It's 'Freedom Day' and everyone has to stay at home. The irony.'

MR Barbers in Ely will remain shut until July 24 while its barbers are self-isolating.

Karl Foster, Director of MR Barbers group, said that the Ely branch is one of three barbershops in the nation-wide chain affected by the 'pingdemic'.

'We have 10 barbers that would normally be serving around 750 clients over the 10-day isolation period,' he told the Ely Standard. 'That's a lot of potentially unhappy customers and a lot of lost business.'

Mark Cribb, owner of the Urban Reef restaurant and bar in Bournemouth, said he was losing thousands of pounds a night after being forced to shut his seafront bar on Mondays and Tuesdays due to staff shortages.

'The concern is that all of a sudden the pingdemic is going to take over,' he told Channel 4 News.

'In one of our restaurants last week we had over 100 people booked in on a Monday but one of our chefs got pinged so we had to phone all of them to cancel.

'Usually on a lovely evening we'd take thousands of pounds but on a Monday and Tuesday night at the moment we have had to close because of the lack of staff.'

Tracy Standish, the owner of Bowl Central, a Bournemouth bowling venue, told Channel Four News: 'We've got a supervisor isolating at the moment. Every day you are concerned to get the news that you are going to lose more vital members.

'At the moment we are trading seven days a week at the moment but you are constantly under pressure. It is very stressful.' 

Although it has never been a legal requirement to obey the app's instructions, the official NHS guidance has been that people should 'self-isolate immediately' when told to. 

Mr Scully told Times Radio: 'It's important to understand the rules. You have to legally isolate if you are on the... contacted by Test and Trace, or if you're trying to claim isolation payments.

'The app is there to give... to allow you to make informed decisions. And I think by backing out of mandating a lot of things, we're encouraging people to really get the data in their own hands to be able to make decisions on what's best for them, whether they're employer or an employee.'

Asked whether this meant people should or should not self-isolate if 'pinged', he said: 'We want to encourage people to still use the app to be able to do the right thing, because we estimate it saves around 8,000 lives.'

However, he added that it was 'up to individuals and employers'.

A No 10 spokeswoman said: 'Isolation remains the most important action people can take to stop the spread of the virus.

'Given the risk of having and spreading the virus when people have been in contact with someone with Covid it is crucial people isolate when they are told to do so, either by NHS Test and Trace or by the NHS covid app.

'Businesses should be supporting employees to isolate, they should not be encouraging them to break isolation.'

Shadow health minister Justin Madders said: 'The Government making it up as they go along.

'Ministers mix messages, change approach and water down proposals when the public and businesses need clarity and certainty.

'If this is a true change in approach on the app, why didn't the Prime Minister set this out last night?

'Yet again there is more confusion and incompetence from the heart of government at the expense of public health. They need to get a grip.' 

John Edmunds, professor of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a member of Sage, told Times Radio: 'Contact tracing and self-isolation play an important role in stopping cases getting out of control and preventing deaths. It's important we maintain these measures as stringently as we can.

'We have one of the highest rates of cases in the world right now. The NHS has been under strain for a long time and they are busy trying to catch up on operations and are very, very busy. So to put them under more pressure now is going to be awkward.'

Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery, who chaired the ethics advisory board for NHSx on its contact tracing app, told Times Radio the Government needed to give clearer guidance to people about what to do when told to self-isolate.

'When we had no protection the risk was the same for everybody. If that risk is now reduced because someone is double-vaccinated it feels as though we need more sophisticated advice,' Sir Jonathan said.

'If we are visiting an elderly relative or a cancer patient then take the ping seriously but if you are doing something relatively Covid-friendly then maybe make a different decision.'

Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies which advises ministers said: 'Contact tracing and self-isolation play an important role in stopping cases getting out of control and preventing deaths.

'It's important we maintain these measures as stringently as we can.

'We have one of the highest rates of cases in the world right now.

'The NHS has been under strain for a long time and they are busy trying to catch up on operations and are very, very busy.

'So to put them under more pressure now is going to be awkward.'

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister was facing a backlash over his plans to make coronavirus vaccination compulsory for nightclubs and other crowded venues in the autumn.

Clubs, backbench Tories and opposition MPs criticised Boris Johnson's announcement on Monday - the day that clubs in England were allowed to open for the first time since March last year.

Night Time Industries Association chief executive Michael Kill accused the Government of 'an absolute shambles'.

'80 per cent of nightclubs have said they do not want to implement Covid passports, worrying about difficulties with enforcing the system and a reduction in spontaneous consumers, as well as being put at a competitive disadvantage with pubs and bars that aren't subject to the same restrictions and yet provide similar environments.'

Mark Harper, the Conservative former chief whip who chairs the Covid Recovery Group of Tory lockdown-sceptics, criticised the plans as 'effectively moving to compulsory vaccination'.

There have been reports of empty shelves in supermarkets amid disruption to supply chains and huge numbers of staff off self-isolating

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee, questioned why the Government was delaying the plans until the autumn.

Labour's shadow health minister Justin Madders said: 'How can it be safe to go to nightclubs now, with no protective measures, if in September it will require double jab status? It makes no sense.'

Mr Scully, the minister for small business, said the policy would not be introduced until the detail is right.

He suggested that pubs would not be included, with the use of the vaccine passports aimed at nightclubs and 'larger ticketed events'.

'There are a number of sporting venues that are already looking at voluntarily doing this,' he told Sky News

Mr Scully admitted to having reservations about the plan: 'I'm not comfortable that Government is mandating anything frankly, I'm a very libertarian Conservative, I want to be able to back off, that's why yesterday was an opportunity for Government to back off from so many different things and let people live their lives.

'But what we have to do is make sure that people will also live their lives safely, the NHS can function safely, and these are the challenges that we still have to do.

'So it's incredibly frustrating, it's incredibly complicated to work through the detail, but that's the challenge we have.'

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2021-07-20 09:57:03Z
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